Committee of the Verkhhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Criminological Association of Ukraine International Women's Rights Centre “La Strada – Ukraine”

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Kyiv – Kharkiv 2011

Authors: I.O. Bandurka, O.M. Bandurka, O.F. Bondarenko, V.O. Bryzhyk, T.I. Buhayets, I.I. Dovgal, S.V. Gud’, M.V. Yevsyukova, O.A. Kalashnik, L.I. Kozub, L.G. Kovalchuk, O.O. Lazorenko, B.P. Lazorenko, K.B. Levchenko, M.M. Legenka, Yu.V. Nikolaychuk, O.V. Savenok, O.I. Suslova, A.V. Chygryn, I.A. Shvab Editors General: O.M. Bandurka, Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence, Professor, Member of the Academy of the Science of Jurisprudence of Ukraine, K.B. Levchenko, Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence, Professor Reviewers: O.O. Golovko – Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence, Professor, First Vice Rector of KhNUIA; V.V. Konopliov – Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Academy of the Science of Jurisprudence of Ukraine

Recommended for publication by the Scientific Council of the Kharkiv National University if Internal Affairs of Ukraine, minutes No. 9 of October 28, 2011

This publication was made possible thanks to the Programme of Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights in Ukraine implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine and co-financed by the European Union and UNDP. Opinions, conclusions or recommendations belong solely to the authors and do not necessarily represent views of the UNDP or other UNDP or EU organizations or institutions. The use of the content from this publication is permitted under condition that full acknowledgement of the source must be clearly stated.

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence. 2001-2011 / Authors: O.M. Bandurka, O.F. Bondarenko, V.O. Bryzhyk; O.M. Bandurka and K.B. Levchenko, eds.; foreword by O.O. Zarubinskiy. – Kharkiv: Prava Liudyny Publishers, 2011. – 40 c. ISBN 978-966-2157-63-5 Results of the independent monitoring of the implementation status of Laws of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence during 2001-2011 are presented in this publication. Implementation of the Law about Preventing Family Violence is analyzed by article, analytical materials, chronology of main events regarding the implementation of the law, regulatory and legal acts adopted to implement and develop the national legislation on the prevention and combating family violence are presented. Generalized monitoring results are presented in the conclusions and recommendations regarding further improvement of both the national laws and the state policy and practical activity in the area under study. The book is addressed to the broad audience, including, first of all, participants of the legislative process and professionals working in the area of the prevention of family violence, social structures and bodies of law enforcement, scholars, representatives of international organizations and NGOs, everyone who is not indifferent to issues of the prevention of family violence. Comments and propositions should be sent to the following address: Ukraine 03113, box 26, IWHRC “La Strada – Ukraine”, [email protected]

ISBN 978-966-2157-63-5

© International Women's Rights Centre “La Strada – Ukraine”, 2010

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Foreword Violence is the cause of break up of thousands of Ukrainian families. Unfortunately family violence still remains a big problem of the Ukrainian society. Family violence is no longer just one of the types of human rights violations – it becomes a violation of the fundamental human right, the right to live: over 1000 women in Ukraine every year die from the hands of their family. Over 102 000 calls by the facts of family violence – and those are only data of the official statistics of the Ministry of internal Affairs and during the year 2010 only. According to the UNDP research data for the same year, 44 per cent Ukrainians know about this shameful occurrence from their own experience. The above indices evidence that the existing state mechanism and current state policy of combating family violence need optimization and further improvement, including those at the legislative level. I need to admit that Ukraine was one of the first states of the East European region that developed and adopted a special law “About Preventing Family Violence”. The important development was the first resolute step towards ensuring protection of rights of our citizens and development of the gender equality which the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine made 10 years ago. In two years after that, it was a turn of amending the Code of Ukraine on the Administrative Violations and adopting normative acts that detailed provisions of the Law. In 2006, the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations initiated the Parliamentary hearings “The Current Status and Actual Tasks in the Area of the Prevention of Family Violence”, which resulted in the developed and adopted important recommendations which are not fully realized as yet. The Committee permanently conducts the parliamentary control over the status of implementation of the laws in the area of prevention of family violence, and actively collaborates with international and non-governmental organizations, supporting their initiatives both in the area of legislative improvements, and introduction of the public control over its implementation. The monitoring of the implementation status of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” for all ten years of its statute that has been conducted recently by a group of professional experts revealed strong and weak sides of the Law in respect to the modern realities which undoubtedly helped to outline further stages and vectors of development and improvement of the national legislation and public policy in the area of combating violence in families. The monitoring conducted on the initiative of non-governmental organizations, combined the legal approach with the purely pragmatic one. In the framework of its implementation a practical functioning of each of the articles of the Law in particular in the context of activities of all subjects of power relations was inspected. A comparative analysis was conducted of responsibilities entrusted to the executive bodies of various levels and key establishments as envisaged by the Law and of genuine actions and services they provided. Due to imperfection and insufficiency of actions of those bodies, victims often do not receive respective assistance the offenders did not bear appropriate responsibility. On these grounds it is necessary to speak about an exclusive need to both improve the current national legislation and to apply international norms through the ratification of international documents containing high standards in the area of victim protection and prevention of the family violence. Currently the next step of the principal importance on the agenda is the signing and ratification of the new Council of Europe Convention on preventing, combating violence against women and family violence open for signing since April, 2011. O.O. Zarubinskiy, Head of the Committee of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Human Rights, National Minorities and International Relations

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Research Methodology For the past ten years of existence, the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence has done a lot and for this reason an extent of this problem becomes comprehensible and visualized. Public bodies responsible for coordination of activities on combating domestic crime are appointed. Cooperation between different public bodies is being established. Introduction of the systemic work with social services and departments on family, children and youth has started. Large-scale educational projects for various categories of professionals and information campaigns are being implemented. The judicial practice is analyzed. Corrective programs for persons who committed family violence are being developed and implemented. A list of positive achievements may be continued. However, a person suffering from family violence doesn’t receive an appropriate protection, the perpetrator does not bear an appropriate responsibility. The main goal of the monitoring the implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence were determined as provision of answers to the questions to what extent is the victim protected from committing family violence against him/her? Whether everything is done to bring the perpetrator to the responsibility for committing family violence and to prevent repeated cases of violence in the future? That is why the expert group and authors faced the following tasks to analyze activities of public bodies regarding the implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence and prepare conclusions and recommendations on improving the legislation of Ukraine on promoting rights and interests of victims of violence, creation of the efficient system of their protection and provision of assistance to them, punishment of offenders and implementation of the efficient preventive work. For this purpose, the Law was analyzed article by article and analytical materials were prepared. For every article, quantitative and qualitative indicators were developed. Articles of the Law were analyzed by the following criteria and answers to questions: correspondence of the article to the international standards; what the article gave for protecting the victim of family violence and for punishing the offender achievements and obstacles in the practical implementation of the article which provisions of the article do not work in practice and why risks what should be done to make the article work in practice. Based on this, general conclusions and recommendations were made. The authors used various methods of scientific research including the methodology developed by the Advocates for Human Rights – “Documenting the Implementation of Family Violence Laws: A Human Rights Monitoring Methodology in May 2011 with further adaptation in accordance to the national legislation. Theoretical studies were conducted a comparative analysis of the laws of Ukraine and normative legal acts which were prepared and adopted in order to establish mechanisms of their implementation was conducted, an advanced analysis of publications on the problem was performed. In the process of preparation to the collection of information, main questions were defined and send in the form of information inquiries to all public bodies concerned and oblast state administrations. Lacking information was collected by means of deputy’s inquiries and appeals. An analysis of web sited of executive bodies and non-governmental organizations was performed, analysis of the judicial practice cases directly related to family violence of the statistical data and sociological survey data, reports of non-governmental and international organizations. Professionals and experts who participated in the development, adoption and implementation of the Law were interviewed. An additional targeted analysis of calls to the 4

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

National hotline on prevention of violence and protection of the rights of the child, complaints and histories of victims of family violence was performed. In order to monitor the observance by district militia inspectors and workers of the criminal militia for children of the norms of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” and to reveal difficulties they encounter in practice, the instruments were developed and 294 militia officers were interviewed in 8 oblasts of Ukraine and in the city of Simferopol (the Autonomous Republic of Crimea). At the same time, taking into consideration complexity of the problem of family violence, along period of its ignoring and the presence of many indirect factors of influence, the authors recognize limitations of this monitoring and sometimes insufficiently profound and complete analysis of certain provisions of the influence of the Law in general and possible ways to improve a situation with the family violence.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

LAW OF UKRAINE ON FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION1. ARTICLE’S COMMENTS This Law defines legal and organizational fundamentals for family violence prevention, bodies and institutions charged with family violence prevention measures.

Section I GENERAL Article 1.Definition of terms For the purpose of this Law the below given terms shall be defined as follows: family violence means any intentional act of a physical, sexual, psychological or economic nature undertaken by a family member with respect to another familymember, if this act violates constitutional rights and freedoms of this family member as a human being and a citizen, and causes him/her moral damage or harm to his/her physical or mental health; physical family violence means intentional battery of inflicting body injuries to a family member by another family member which may cause or has caused the death of a victim, deterioration of physical or mental health injury to his/her honor and dignity. Sexual family violence means an illegal infringement by a family member on the sexual inviolability of another family member, including acts of sexual nature with respect to an under-age family member; psychological family violence means violence related to acts of a family member which affect the psyche of another family member through verbal insults or threats, persecution, intimidation which intentionally cause a lack of emotional confidence, inability to defend oneself and which may cause or causes harm to mental health; economic family violence means a family member’s intentional deprival of another family member of housing, food, clothing and property or funds which lawfully belong to the victim. Such acts may result in death or physical and mental impairment; family members meaning people who are married live as one family but are not married with each other, their children are under wardship or trusteeship, lineal or nonlineal relatives subject to cohabitation; {Article 1 was amended with the new paragraph under the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008}

1 Document 2789-14, last version as of Jan. 01, 2009, effective. (Vidomosti (Messenger) of the VerkhovnaRada of Ukraine (VVR), 2002, N 10, page 70) {As altered by the Laws N 609-V ( 609-16 ) of Feb. 02, 2007, VVR, 2007, N 15, p. 194; N 599-VI ( 599-17 ) of Sep. 25, 2008, VVR, 2009, N 13, p. 153} {Throughout this Law of Ukraine the words “for under-age persons” were replaced with the words “for children” as per the Law N 609-V (609-16) of Feb, 07, 2007}. Publications of this document: HolosUkrayiny of Dec. 20, 2001 – № 242 UriadovyiKuryer of Dec. 26, 2001 – № 241 OfitsiynyiVisnykUkrayiny of Jan.04, 2002 – 2001, № 51, p. 41, Article 2258, act code 20858/2001 Vidomosti of the VerkhovnaRada of Ukraine of Mar. 07, 2002 – 2002 р, № 10, article 70

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A victim of family violence means a family member who has suffered from physical, sexual, psychological, or economic violence committed by another family member. Family violence prevention means a system of social and special measures aimed at eliminating the causes and conditions that facilitate family violence and stopping family violence that is being prepared or is already in progress, bringing perpetrators of family violence to justice as well as medical and social rehabilitation to victims of family violence. A real threat of family violence means a threat that a family member may commit intentional acts stipulated by paragraph 2 of this article against another family member with a great degree of probability of its fulfillment. A protective precept means a special form of response by district police inspectors and the criminal police for children to protect victims of family violence which prohibits a person who has committed family violence to take certain actions in relation to a victim of family violence; {Paragraph 12 of article 1 was excluded under the Law N 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} A corrective program means a program aimed at establishing humanistic values and non-violence model of conduct in a family of a person who has committed family violence. {Article 1 was amended with paragraph 13 under the Law N 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008}

As a whole, the term “family violence” in its current wording meets international standards. For instance the definition from the list forms of such violence includes physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence. By the way, the latter form is the “know-how” of the Ukrainian legislation is indeed until recently three main forms: physical, sexual and psychological violence were considered at the level of UN and the European Union. The new Council of Europe Convention contains all four forms. As to definitions of the notions of “physical violence”, “psychological violence”, “sexual violence” and “economic violence”, they contain certain drawbacks and need further elaboration. Positive aspects include presence of terms in the legislation, presence of a separate term “victim”, “family members”, or a clear definition of those who are protected by the law. At the same time, the law does not include a definition of those against whom the law protects, i.e. a definition of the “perpetrator”/ “person who committed violence”, a notion of “family member” artificially narrows a possibility of bringing perpetrators to responsibility, and this fact creates conditions for continued family violence, for irresponsibility of perpetrators. In addition, there are problems of inconsistency of some terms with other national legislative acts, of their disuse in the judicial practice.

Article 2. Legislation on family violence prevention The legislation on family violence prevention consists of the Ukraine’s Constitution (254k/96-VR), this Law and other regulatory legal acts that govern relations in family violence prevention.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Provisions stipulated in Articles 2 are mandatory for all laws and are almost universal by character. However, the article lacks references to international agreements whose mandatory nature was consented by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. An absence of such direct reference to the norms of international agreements affects low efficiency of application of international standards in the area of counteracting family violence at the level of enforcement.

Since the time of operation of the Law, a number of normative legal documents that deals directly or indirectly with the regulation of the problem of family violence were adopted in Ukraine. They are divided into two main groups: laws and subordinate legislation. In addition to special normative legal acts aimed at overcoming family violence, the regulatory and legal framework of Ukraine includes a number of other acts dealing with protection of rights of children, youth, and families. Including protection from violence and with implementation of respective work in those directions. For instance the Law of Ukraine “About Social Services” defines that violence, neglectful attitude and negative relations in the family are difficult life circumstances, or such as the objectives violates normal vital activity of the person who cannot overcome their consequences independently. The normative legal framework of Ukraine, which regulates relations on preventing family violence is quite broad and numbers almost thirty normative documents. However, a detailed and complex analysis of those documents proves the fact the number does not guarantee quality. For instance many normative legal acts both legislative and subordinate contain significant contradictions which affect efficiency of exercise of the whole legislation, its ability to efficiently protect victims of the violence and bring the offender to responsibility.

Article 3.Bodies and institutions charged with taking family violence prevention measures

1. The following bodies shall be charged with taking family violence prevention measures: 1). the specially authorized executive agency for family violence prevention; 2). authorized units of internal affairs bodies; {Item 2 of part 1 of article 3 as reworded by the Law N 599-VI ( 599-17 ) of Sep. 25, 2008} 3). guardianship and trusteeship bodies; specialized bodies for persons who committed family violence and victims of family violence; 4). family violence prevention: 5). crisis centers for members of families in which family violence has been committed or there is a real threat of family violence (hereinafter referred to as the ‘crisis centers’);

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

6). centers for medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence. {Item 4 of part 1 of article 3 as reworded by the Law N 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} 2. Executive bodies, bodies of local self-government, enterprises, institutions and organizations irrespective of ownership patterns, associations of citizens and citizens as individuals may aid in taking family violence prevention measures.

Article 3 determines a list of bodies and organizations entrusted with implementation of measures on family violence prevention. Powers of each of the mentioned bodies and organizations are described in separate articles. This is the only article which legitimize participation of public organizations in activities in this area. In addition to the absence of a clear definition of their activity in implementing measures on preventing family violence, there is a number of inconsistencies with other legislative acts that regulate activity of those subjects, in particular: the state provides necessary assistance in preventing and detecting cases of cruel treatment of the child referral of information about those cases for consideration to respective authorized bodies for investigation and taking measures to stop violence, through services for children and centers of social services for the family, children and youth. In questions of protecting children from violence and cruel treatment, the Law “About Preventing Family Violence” is not consistent with norms of the Law “About Protection of Childhood”, which took effect before its adoption. Article 3 does not envisage a function of educational bodies and establishments regarding protection of children from family violence. In particular, pedagogic workers are able to be the first to note signs of violence and cruel treatment in respect to children and take measures for their prevention. Functions of non-governmental sector in implementing measures on preventing family violence are not envisaged, neither is a mechanism of cooperation of public organizations with bodies of the executive and local governance. Among bodies and establishments entrusted with implementing measures on preventing family violence as determined by Article 3, the following are not listed: — services on children, which are the main bodies providing social and legal protection of children, including against violence and cruel treatment; — centers of social services for the family, children and youth, which are the only structure at the state level that provides assistance to families and persons in difficult life circumstances (including those caused by family violence); — public prosecution bodies that provide control over observation of the legislation; — courts which are entrusted with bringing persons guilty in committing family violence to responsibility; — local state administrations; — other detachments of bodies of internal affairs, in addition to those mentioned in the Law; — educational establishments; — establishments and organizations of health care; — establishments for persons who suffered from family violence, apart from crisis centers and centers of medical and social rehabilitation.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Therefore, the above mentioned subjects should be included into a list of bodies and establishments entrusted with implementing measures on preventing family violence.

Article 4. Reasons for taking family violence prevention measures

1. The reasons for taking family violence prevention measures are as follows: a claim of help which is submitted by a victim of family violence or a family member who faces a real threat of family violence; a will verbally expressed by a victim of family violence or a family member who faces a real threat of family violence for measures to be taken prevent family violence when a communication or claim has not been personally submitted by him/her; a communication on family violence or a real threat of family violence against an under-age or legally incompetent family member. 2. A claim or communication on family violence or a real threat of family violence against shall be admitted by the bodies mentioned in items 1 and 2 of part 1 of article 3 of this Law as appropriate to victim’s place of residence. 3. The body that has received a claim or communication on family violence or a real threat of family violence shall investigate the claim or communication and take prevent family violence measures as required by the law. 4. The procedure for processing claims and communications on family violence or a real threat of family violence shall be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of the Ukraine.

Provisions of this article are fixed in the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of 14.04.2004 No. 400 “About the Procedure of Admission, Registration and Consideration in Bodies and Detachments of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of Claims and Notices about Crimes That Were Committed or Are Being Prepared” (registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on May 6, 2004, No. 571/9170). At the same time, this order does not envisage a special procedure of admission and registration of a claim from the child, and general rule of admission of claims cannot be realized in case if the claim is submitted by a child. The grounds for taking measures on preventing family violence in the Law is exclusively a claim or an expressed wish of the victim or a member of her/his family that such measures are taken. Notices about committed family violence or about a threat of its commitment from citizens, organizations, businesses, educational establishments and other natural or juridical persons are not taken into account, which does not correspond to the Model Law. The same is true regarding perpetration of family violence or a threat of its perpetration against a child or an incapable person. A system of detecting families where violence is being committed, is in efficient. The work with persons suffering from violence is being conducted only in case of their personal referral for help.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Section II BODIES AND INSTITUTIONS CHARGED WITH TAKING FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION MEASURES Article 5. Powers of the specially authorized executive agency for family violence prevention The specially authorized executive agency for family violence prevention shall: take part in the development and enforcement of the government policy on family violence prevention; coordinate activities of relevant units of internal affairs bodies, guardianship and trusteeship agencies on the matters of family violence protection; {Paragraph 3 of article 5 as reworded by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} determine a particular region’s demand for specialized institutions for victims of family violence and arrange efforts on their establishment; {Paragraph 4 of article 5 as reworded by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} exercise control over the organization and operation of specialized institutions for victims of family violence; develop and approve methodic recommendations on a corrective program and provide crisis centers with these methodic recommendations; {Article 5 was amended with the new paragraph under the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} carry out collection and generalization of data on family violence, as prescribed by the law arrange sociological, psychological and pedagogical, and criminal investigations of family violence; provide methodical and practical assistance and counseling to executive bodies and bodies of local government, enterprises, institutions and organization irrespective of ownership pattern, associations of citizens and citizens as individuals on family violence prevention; arrange and carry out educational and awareness work among members of a family in which there is an imminent real threat of family violence or family violence has been committed on the rights, measures and services available to them; arrange and carry out public educational and awareness work on the problem of family violence and measures available to prevent family violence; request from central and local executive agencies and local governance bodies adequate assistance to victims of family violence; accept and review complaints and information about past incidents of family violence already or a real threat of family violence; {Article 5 was amended with the new paragraph under the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008}

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provide for passing a corrective program by persons who have committed family violence; {Article 5 was amended with the new paragraph under the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} request from central and local executive bodies and bodies of local government adequate assistance to victims of family violence; accept and review claims and communications about committed family violence or a real threat of family violence; assign victims of family violence and family members who face a real threat of family violence to specialized institutions for victims of family violence.

Because the Law does not clearly distinguish between powers of a specially authorized executive body at the central and local levels, in practice this leads to the confusion or only formal fulfillment of functions.

Corrective programs. In the framework of the program of professional training developed under the OSCE support, 300 professionals were trained, who can implement corrective programs. The difficulty lies in the fact that due to the absence of crisis centers (whose specialists should implement corrective programs), the training was taken mostly by representatives of social services for family, children and youth and centers of psychosocial assistance, whose terms of reference do not include implementation of corrective programs. The issue is not solved about a body which will be authorized and have a sufficiently high level of expertise for certification of programs and professionals, and no education establishment (including those for professional development) does not train specialists in this area. Corrective programs are being considered as a type of the social work and not as alternative sanctions (a kind of punishment), and referring corrective programs to the social work means their implementation based on the principle of acceptance of social services (in particular, voluntariness in accepting the service or refusal from it), which does not correspond to the nature of corrective programs that must be implemented in the situation when the negative activity of the person targeted not on that person, but on other family members. The legislation about alternative kinds of penalty and punishment is absent and should be developed. A procedure of realization of corrective work with children who commit violence in families, and a body responsible for such work are not determined either.

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Article 6. Powers of authorized units of internal affairs bodies on family violence prevention {The title of article 6 as reworded by the Law № 599-VI ( 599-17 ) of Sep. 25, 2008}

1. Within internal affairs bodies family violence prevention measures shall be taken by district police inspectors and the criminal police for children which shall: expose, within their scope of competence, the causes and circumstances that facilitate family violence expressions and take measures to eliminate them; compile a family-violence-prevention list of family-violence-prone persons and conduct educational and prevention work with them; meet with families whose members are on the family-violence-prevention list, as appropriate to their place of residence, and give them counseling; issue official cautions to family members on non-admissibility of family violence; receive and examine, within their scope of powers prescribed by the law, claims and communications on family violence or a real threat of family violence; take appropriate measures to prevent family violence as well as acts of family members which are aimed at fulfilling a real threat of family violence; notify members of the family in which there is an imminent real threat of family violence or in which family violence has already been inflicted about the rights, measures and services available to them; assign victims of family violence to specialized institutions for persons who have committed family violence and victims of the violence; issue protective precept in cases stipulated by the law; control the exercise of protective precept enforcement demands; assign persons who committed family violence to crisis centers for the latter to undergo corrective programs; cooperate with the specially authorized executive agency for family violence prevention, with guardianship and trusteeship agencies and specialized institutions for persons who committed family violence and victims of family violence on the matters of family violence prevention; provide authorized bodies with information on the prevention of family violence at their request; exercise other powers on the prevention of family violence which are stipulated by the law. {Part 1 of article 6 as reworded by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} 2. Powers of the criminal police for children shall extend to cases in which a victim of family violence or a person facing a real threat of family violence as well as a person who has committed family violence is under 18.

Within bodies of internal affairs, measures on preventing family violence are implemented by the service of district militia inspectors and the criminal militia on children. In addition, some functions were added, namely: referral of victims of family violence to special establishments

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for perpetrators of family violence and for victims of such violence; referral of perpetrators of family violence to crisis centers to undertake corrective programs. The monitoring of this article demonstrated that in practice, unfortunately, there are many cases of non-fulfillment by the service of district militia inspectors and the criminal militia on children of the provisions of Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence”. Every year the number of people registered for family violence at the internal affairs agencies is increasing

Year

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

6 months of 2011

72194

74571

77664

8760

85680

94399

97260

10638

9284

9098

8760

7190

7227

7212

84155

85178

87831

85085

93327

101652

104472

Number of men Number of women Total number of people registered for family violence

At the same time it should be stated that the number of minors registered for family violence is essentially decreasing both in absolute numbers and in percentage

Year

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

6 months of 2011

Number of minors registered for family violence

1323

1323

1069

575

457

507

420

Article 7. Powers of guardianship and trusteeship agencies in preventing family violence A guardianship and trusteeship agency shall: provide assistance in restoring rights and protecting legal interests to under-age persons who have parents and live in families, orphaned children who have been deprived of parents’ care and are being reared in families of guardians (trustees), in foster families or in family-type children’s homes; as well as to those family members who have been judicially found incompetent, in cases when family violence has been inflicted against them or they face a real threat of family violence; represent the interests of underage and legally incompetent persons who have inflicted family violence or fallen victim to family violence in court; {Paragraph 3 of article 7 as altered by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} exercise other legally prescribed powers on the prevention of family violence. 14

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Bodies of custody and guardianship are the district, district in the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol state administrations, executive bodies of town, city districts, village and settlement councils, which according to the legislation conduct activities on granting a status of the orphaned child and the child deprived of parental custody, arrangement of orphaned children and children deprived of parental custody, establishment of custody and guardianship on orphaned children and children deprived of parental custody, protection of personal, property and housing rights of children. The monitoring revealed the absence of the statistical information on the presentation of the rights of the child in the court (judicial practice); on the number of professionals (staffing level and workload); a number of children and in capable persons who were provided with assistance (by types of assistance); a general number of cases in which protection of children and the in capable was conducted; a number of cases where representatives of bodies of guardianship and custody took part; a number of court hearings in which children participated in the proceedings; a general number of such cases; a number of judicial hearings in which incapable persons took part; on the availability of socio-demographic characteristics of children; results and effectiveness of protecting and representing interests of juveniles and the incapable in the courts; results of assistance provided in the restoration of violated rights and interests; adequacy of assistance provided to needs of persons whose rights were violated; adequacy of the qualification of professionals to the content of work with persons of different age groups; their professional development.

Article 8. Crisis centers 1. Crisis centers shall be set up by local state administrations upon recommendation of the specially authorized executive agency for family violence prevention in accordance with the social needs of the region. 2. Crisis centers may also be set up by bodies of local self-management, enterprises, institutions, organizations, charity funds, associations of citizens and citizens as individuals in cooperation with the specially authorized executive agency for family violence prevention to be registered under the procedure prescribed by the law. 3. Crisis center employees shall: accommodate family members who can fall or have fallen victim to family violence; accommodate persons who have committed family violence for the latter to undergo corrective programs; organize the rendering of necessary psychological, pedagogical, medical or legal assistance to family members who can fall or have fallen victims to family violence; develop corrective programs and provide for their passing by persons who have committed family violence; in accordance with their resources, provide a refuge for a temporary stay to family members who can fall or have fallen victims to family violence; notify family members in case of an imminent real threat of family violence or, if it has already been committed, notify them about the rights, measures and services available to them; notify district police inspectors or the criminal police for children about the discovered facts of a real threat of family violence or about the facts of the family violence committed;

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

examine and generalize the causes and conditions of specific expressions of family violence; provide authorized bodies with information on the matters of family violence prevention at their request; keep confidentiality of information about persons who have appealed to the crisis center seeking for help/assistance interact with mass media and non-governmental organizations in conducting educational and awareness work on the prevention of family violence. {Part 3 of article 8 as reworded by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} 4. A crisis center shall be a non-profit organization, enjoy the rights of a legal entity and have a letterhead, a seal with the inscription of the State Coat of Arms of Ukraine and its title on it.

The Law does not envisage mandatory establishment of crisis centers. According to the Law, such centers are established by local state administrations by submission of the specially authorized executive body on prevention of family violence in accordance with social needs of the region. However, in what way should the needs of the region be defined, is not determined either in the Law or in subordinate normative legal acts. Not in all regions of Ukraine the crisis centers are established and operate, but in most regions there are other establishments which provide assistance to victims of family violence. Such establishments are financed both from oblast and local budgets, and from international funds. The data on the number of submissions of the specially authorized executive body on prevention of family violence according to the needs of the region were missing in the information provided by representatives of the Ministry of Ukraine on Family, Youth and Sports. Those establishments are not specialized (for provision of assistance to victims of family violence only). Their clients may include: persons returning from places of imprisonment; persons from among orphaned children and children deprived of parental custody; persons who suffered from trafficking in human beings; families and persons whose difficult life circumstances are caused by the natural disaster or catastrophe, etc. And each of those categories require an individual approach in providing them with the necessary assistance. According to the model statute, only persons below 35 years of age or those with minor children can become clients of those centers. As of providing assistance to seniors who suffered from family violence or who are in danger of family violence, this problem is not settled in Ukraine at the moment. According to the Statistics of the MIA of Ukraine for 2010 – first half of 2011:

Year

2010 First half of 2011 TOTAL:

Number of victims of family violence referred to specialized institutions for rehabilitation, 2010 317 114 431

Number of people, who committed family violence, referred Year to crisis centers for passing the corrective programme 2010 3673 First half of 2011 2047 TOTAL: 5720 16

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Article 9. Centers for medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence 1. Centers for medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence shall be established in accordance with the legislation that regulates the establishment of health-care institutions. Centers for medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence may be set up within the system of currently existing health-care institutions. 2. Victims of family violence (upon their consent or request) shall be accommodated at centers for medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence victims on the basis of a decision made by the center’s medical commission. As for under-age persons, it is necessary to get the permission of one of his/her parents of origin, adoptive parents, or a guardian or a trustee, unless they suffered from his/her violence, or of the body of guardianship and trusteeship. {Part 2 of article 9 as altered by the Law the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008} 3. Victims of family violence shall stay at medical and social rehabilitation centers for a period needed for their treatment, psychological and social rehabilitation. At their request, victims of family violence can undergo outpatient treatment and psychological and social rehabilitation. 4. Employees of centers for medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence shall: provide victims of family violence with initial medical-sanitarian aid and psychological assistance and selected kinds of psychiatric help on the grounds and under the procedure specified in the Law of the Ukraine “On Psychiatric Assistance” and other Laws; when needed, assign victims of family violence for appropriate further treatment; arrange legal counseling to victims of family violence; notify district police inspectors or the criminal police for children about the violence committed; provide authorized bodies with information on the matters of family violence prevention at their request.

The legislation limits the term of stay of victims of family violence in the centers of medical and social rehabilitation for victims of family violence. The victims may stay there during the time necessary for their medical treatment and psychosocial rehabilitation. Optionally, outpatient treatment and psychosocial rehabilitation may be taken. The Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine “About the staffing norms and model staff lists of health-care institutions” (including further alterations and amendments) of 23.02.2000 No. 33 does not stipulate staffing norms of centers of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence as such. The monitoring showed that centers of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence do not provide the Ministry of Health of Ukraine with the information about the amount of work they conducted for generalization purposes. In some oblasts of Ukraine there are other establishments providing socio-psychological assistance. In the absence of the center of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of

17

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

family violence, assistance to the victims of family violence is provided by centers of sociopsychological assistance and by territorial health care establishments of level II (central district and municipal hospitals) and level III (oblast and oblast children’s hospitals) in the general order. Information about a real number of centers of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence varies. For instance, according to information received from the Ministry of Ukraine on Family, Youth and Sports, 16 centers of medical and social rehabilitation work at the health care establishments. And letters from the oblast departments of health give grounds for the conclusion that centers of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence established according to this Law, operate only in the city of Sevastopol, and the Kirovograd and Kherson Oblast. According to the answer from Sevastopol City division of Public Health from 2004 till 2011 there were no victims of family violence in Sevastopol Medical Centre. Here is the Statistics of the MIA of Ukraine on the number of people who have been registered for family violence in the city of Sevastopol from 2004 to 2010. Year

Number of people who were registered for physical violence:

2004

456

2005

584

2006

527

2007

625

2008

816

2009

895

2010

1047

What can it mean: the absence of necessary informing of victims of family violence about the centre existence and the possibility to receive relevant help or the existence of such centers only on paper?

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Section III SPECIAL FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION MEASURES Article 10. Official caution on non-admissibility of family violence

1. District police inspectors or the criminal police for children shall issue an official caution on non-admissibility of family violence to a family member who has committed family violence subject to no qualifying crime attributes and notify him/her whereof with a written certificate of receipt. 2. An official caution on non-admissibility of family violence may be made to a responsible person who has reached the age of 16 by the time of its issuance. 3. In case family violence was committed after a person had received an official caution on non-admissibility of family violence, he/she shall be assigned to a crisis center for a corrective program and, in the cases and under the procedure prescribed by this Law, a protective precept may be issued in relation to him/her. Passing the corrective program shall be compulsory for this person. {Part 3 of article 10 as reworded by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008}

Issuing an official warning about inadmissibility of committing family violence give grounds for the prophylactic registration of the perpetrator, which, in its turn, increases a probability of control over his/her behavior by the militia and automatically increases safety of the victim of violence. There are certain risks, namely, the efficiency of the official warning, as it does not contain any guiding standards of conduct or a list of forbidden actions. The perpetrator may commit actions different from those that gave grounds for the official warning, changing one type of family violence for a different one.

Article 11. Official Statement on Inadmissibility of Victim Behavior with Regard to Family Violence

In the event of regular (three or more times) victim behavior of a family member that result in a situation that can lead to perpetration of family violence, the service of district police officers or criminal police officers working with the minors issues an official statement on inadmissibility of victim behavior against receipt. {Article 11 was excluded according to № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008}

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Article 11 was seriously criticized by Ukrainian and international experts, and in 2008 was excluded from the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” on the basis of the Law of Ukraine “About Alterations to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding Improving the Legislation on Family Violence” of 25 September 2008, No. № 599-VI. This Law came into force on 01.01.2009. At the same time, notion “victim behavior” was excluded from Article 1 of the Law. According to the Statistics of the MIA of Ukraine, for 2005-2008:

Year

Number of official warnings on the inadmissibility of victim behavior led to family violence

2005

3549

2006

5119

2007

3394

2008

2674

Despite the fact that Article 11 of the Law was deleted back in 2008, there are still cases of issuing the official warning about in admissibility of victim behavior regarding family violence by state bodies and district militia inspectors.

Article 12. Registration and de-registration of a family member who has committed family violence on the family-violence-prevention list

1. District police inspectors or the criminal police for children shall register family members who have an issued official caution on non-admissibility of family violence on the family-violence-prevention list. 2. Bodies that registered a family member who had committed family violence on the family-violence-prevention list shall de-register him/her one year after the last fact of committing family violence subject to no recurrent family violence committed. 3. The procedure for the registration and de-registration of family members who have an issued official caution on non-admissibility of family violence shall be approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

On one hand, the prophylactic registration is an atavism, on the other hand, vice versa, it is a form of control over perpetrator’s behaviour with a goal to secure members of his/her family against violence. And a stipulated one-year term of registration guarantees a possibility for the militia workers to visit the perpetrator at home, which as a whole also corresponds to Article 8, Part 2 of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. There are no obstacles for registration of the perpetrator. Another matteris the effectiveness and efficiency of the control over perpetrator’s behaviour during the term of his/ her registration. For instance, in 2010, almost 92 thousand perpetrators were registered, of 20

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

those 84.2 male. In the first six months of 2011, this index was 102.1 thousand perpetrators, of those 94.4 thousand male. Problematic is determination of reasons for removal from the register: “If during one year after the last fact of committing family violence the person never once has committed family violence”. However, there are risks with regard to registration of facts of violence if the victim does not call during the term of registration of the perpetrator. To make the article work in practice, the prophylactic registration should be filled with preventive measures: attendance of programs, including lectures on legal issues, consultations with psychologists and social workers. It is necessary to mention that the main goal of the prophylactic registration is the effective control over perpetrator’s behaviour combined with the active assistance to the victim of family violence and socio-psychological correctional influence over the perpetrator. If the first part (effective control) is a task of bodies of internal affairs, the second part (socio-psychological correctional influence) is a task of social services and bodies of local governance. An important reservation should be made regarding a direct link between the number of cases of family violence registered by the militia and evaluations of the scale of this phenomenon in the society. Here the factors of latency of family violence discussed above should be kept in mind (a failure to call the militia during incidents of family violence; militia’s failure to react to such calls; requalification of offences from family violence to the disorderly conduct; withdrawal of claims by victims of family violence when they find out about the necessity to pay fines, etc). Therefore, a growing number of cases of family violence registered by the militia may (and should) be seen as reflecting changes in the activity of bodies of internal affairs and improved reaction of the militia to facts of so-called “domestic crimes”.

Article 13. Protective precept 1. A district police inspector or an officer of the criminal police for children subject to clearance with a head of the relevant internal affairs body and prosecutor may issue the prosecutor can issue a protective precept with respect to a person who has committed family violence after receiving an official caution on non-admissibility of family violence. 2. A protective precept shall not be subject to clearance if acts of a person who has committed family violence have qualifying crime attributes. 3. A protective precept may be issues with respect to a responsible person who has reached the age of 16 by the time of its issuance. 4. A protective precept may forbid a person who has been issued to commit an act (acts) with respect to a victim of family violence, namely: committing specific acts of family violence; receiving information about the place of stay of a victim of family violence; searching for a victim of family violence if a victim of family violence is staying, at his/her will, at a place which is not known to the person who has committed family violence; visiting a victim of family violence if he/she is temporarily staying beyond a place of joint residence of family members; engaging in telephone negotiations with a victim of family violence.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

5. The restrictions mentioned in part 4 of this article shall be set for the period up to 90 days upon the clearance of a protective precept with a prosecutor. {Part 5 of article 13 as altered by the Law № 599-VI (599-17) of Sep. 25, 2008}

This article of the Law does not meet international standards in substance. The first main difference is the fact that the protective order is issued, paradoxically, to the perpetrator, and not to the victim of family violence. The second main difference is the fact that such protective order should be issued exclusively by the court, and not by bodies of internal affairs, which include bodies of law enforcement and the public prosecution. Indeed, responsibilities contained in the protective order regarding the perpetrator restrict his/her rights. Reaction to the disobedience to the protective order is administrative – Article 173-2 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Infractions. It does not differ from the reaction to the fact of family violence and does not incur any sanctions aimed at making it impossible for the perpetrator to violate established restrictions. The protective order does not protect the victim PERSONALLY – it establishes restrictions to the perpetrator, and the victim, who does not even have a copy of the order, cannot make a complaint against perpetrator’s actions in accordance with the established procedures. The control over observance of the protective order is virtually absent. And in case when the victim, even if she lives separately from the perpetrator, is intimidated and does not call to the militia, the perpetrator cannot be brought to the administrative responsibility for the disobedience to the protective order. In addition, Ukrainian scholars make other suggestions regarding the reformation of the system of special measures on preventing family violence. For instance, it is suggested to introduce a temporary restrictive injunction and a protective order into the Ukrainian legislation and respectively into the practice of enforcement. Introduction of protective warrants and administrative responsibility for their nonfulfillment 2

№

Year

Total number of people registered

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 6 months

81957 84155 85178 87831 85085 93327 102133 104892

Number of people registered in the current period

56777 59733 63624 65042 66119 72945 81135 44088

Number of Number of administrative protocols protective drawn up by the Article warrants 173-2 for non-fulfillment of protective warrant

8380 7566 6359 5830 6394 6551 6684 2706

3703 2452 3214 3126 1505 1604 No data3 No data

2 The table is compiled on the basis of statistical data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. There is no data for 2003, as the collection of the statistical information on family violence has been introduced only at the end of 2003 by the order of the MIA № 1212. 3 Since January, 1, 2010 the indicated statistics has not been collected due to the introduction of the reporting form № 1-НС (order of the MIA № 388 as of 08.09.2009 «On the introduction of the reporting form № 1-НС «Report on Family Violence Prevention» (quarterly)».

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Article 14. Collection of means for the accommodation of victims of family violence at specialized institutions for victims of family violence

A decision to collect means from persons who have committed family violence to compensate for the accommodation of victims of family violence at specialized institutions for victims of family violence shall be made by court under the legally established procedure subsequent to a suit of the administration of specialized institutions for victims of family violence. A right to implement this law in practice belongs to administrations of crisis centers established according to Article 8 of the Law and administrations of centers of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence established according to Article 9 of the Law. The legislation provides administrations of such establishments with a right to bring an action before the court against a person who committed family violence, with a civil claim about recovery of costs of maintenance of a victim of family violence in the specialized establishment for victims of family violence. The monitoring of the database of the Common State Register of Judicial Decisions conducted in August 2011, allowed making a conclusion that legal cases about collection of costs of maintenance of victims of family violence in establishments for victims of family violence from perpetrators of family violence, are absent. Not only a clear mechanism of the trial of such cases is absent, there are no explanations regarding the trial of cases of this category; there are also other problems of non-compliance with this article in practice.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Section IV RESPONSIBILITY FOR COMMITTING FAMILY VIOLENCE Article 15.Responsibility for committing family violence Family members who have committed family violence shall be liable to criminal, administrative or civil and legal responsibility in accordance with legislation. Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” belongs to the most important in the Law, though it is declarative by nature. But it lays the ground and provides a basis for bringing perpetrators of family violence to responsibility, which can be civil, administrative and criminal. As of September 30, 2011, only the Ukrainian legislation on the administrative responsibility contains a special norm that envisages responsibility for committing family violence. Neither criminal nor civil legislation envisage any special norm that would establish responsibility for committing family violence. Such approach does not meet international standards in the area of counteracting family violence and envisage introduction of the special criminal and civil responsibility for unlawful relations in the family. A number of monitoring studies conducted in 2009–2011, were focused on the judicial practice in cases related to cruel treatment of children, violence against women and children, and specifically family violence. Generalization of information obtained in those researches allows making the following conclusions about peculiarities of bringing to criminal responsibility for crimes related to family violence: 1. In most cases, during consideration of cases about crimes related to family violence that belong to the category of misdemeanors and crimes of medium gravity, the court releases the convicts from the service of sentence with the approbation using Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Therefore, it is possible to speak about relative “softness” of penalties imposed by courts. 2. Courts very rare pass separate resolutions aimed at drawing attention of social services or bodies of internal affairs to the family where family violence was committed, with a goal to prevent family violence in future, to prevent commitment of a more grave crime, and to protect rights of victims. Passing a separate resolution/order may help a family to get out of the situation of violence; on the consent of family members, the social service can take the family under the social surveillance as such that appeared in difficult life circumstances. 3. The judicial practice of Ukraine almost lacks examples when the court charges a convict who systematically consumes alcohol or drugs, with an obligation, according to Article 76 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, to take treatment of alcohol or drug abuse in case of release from the service of sentence with the approbation according to the procedure of Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. If the perpetrator of the crime related to family violence is a chronic alcoholic or drug user, which is confirmed by medical documents, the court is entitled to impose an obligation on this person to take a mandatory treatment from alcohol and drug abuse in case of the application of Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. 4. The court pays insufficient attention to the history of family violence and does not take into consideration that such violence could have existed for years and that a crime committed is an episode in the years of cruel treatment of the family. Keeping in mind that the tasks 24

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

of the criminal justice include, inter alia, protection of rights and lawful interests of natural persons taking part in it, the courts should avoid a formal approach during the consideration of cases on family violence and clarify risks for life and health of the victims. 5. A practice exists to consider cases related to family violence by an abridged procedure, using Article 299 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine concerning the recognition of an investigation of evidences regarding finding of fact as inexpedient. This, of course, contributes to the faster proceedings, but in this situation, the court may miss some important circumstances of the case, which can further lead to violations of rights of victims. 6. When considering cases related to sexual violence against children, the court often summons children-victims for their interrogation in the court; minor victims are often present during the hearings, and such cases are considered in the open trial. 7. Another peculiarity of considered cases related to family violence against adults is a massive release of convicts in 2009 as a result of adoption of the Law of Ukraine “About the Amnesty” by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Every year the number of cases on family violence, which are considered by courts, is increasing, which is the indicator of positive dynamics in this field Year

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

6 months of 2011

Number of cases considered by courts

81339

80176

80357 85068

86644

100278

105500

54644

№

Year

Total number of people registered

Number of people registered

Number of administrative protocols drawn up by the Article 173-2

Number of decisions adopted by courts

Warning

Fine

Corrective labour

Administrative arrest

Public works

Exempt from administrative responsibility

Types of administrative penalties (according to the statistical reporting of the MIA of Ukraine)

1

20034

No data

No data

No data

No data

No data

No data

No data

No data

No data

No data

2

2004

81957

56777

82413

81339

8012

60491

1195

11 366

___

275

3

2005

84155

59733

83347

80176

7157

61737

349

10 615

___

318

4

2006

85178

63624

88909

82784

5822

66873

375

9334

___

380

5

2007

87831

65042

94724

88296

5554

72080

412

9718

___

532

6

2008

85085

66119

98891

90556

5104

74169

350

10342

___

591

7

2009

93327

72945

112734

102232

3304

83687

230

14289

___

722

5

8

9

2010

102133

81135

121065

105590

797

59332

102

10730

___

858

2011 6 months 104892

44088

66270

546446

795

29890

262

4465

2079

462

4 There is no data for 2003 as the collection of the statistical information on family violence has been introduced only at the end of 2003 by the order of the MIA № 1212. 5 Data received from the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine. The State Judicial Administration of Ukraine keeps the statistics on the number of people, whose cases have been considered, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine has kept the statistics on the number of decisions taken by courts till 2010 6 Ibid.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Section V FUNDING OF BODIES AND INSTITUTIONS CHARGED WITH TAKING FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION MEASURES Article 16. Funding sources for bodies charged with taking family violence prevention measures and specialized institutions for victims of family violence

1. Bodies and institutions on family violence prevention which belong to executive bodies or bodies of local self-government shall be funded from a budget of the relevant level. 2. Specialized institutions for victims of family violence that have been established by enterprises, institutions, organizations, charity funds, associations of citizens or citizens as individuals shall be funded from their own resources. 3. Specialized institutions for victims of family violence that have been established by enterprises, institutions, organizations, charity funds, associations of citizens or citizens as individuals shall be entitled for redress to persons who have committed family violence and compensation for accommodation of victims of family violence.

The budget funds for issues of preventing family violence were allocated for the Ministry on Family, Youth and Sports only in the framework of the State Program of support to the family for the period till 2010 (Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 19.02.2007 No. 224). A conclusion can be made that funding was shrinking from year to year. According to results of the monitoring of all regions with regard to funding of the abovementioned issues, funds for a total amount of 673 thousand hryvnas were allocated in fifteen regions from the local budget according to decisions of oblast councils, in twelve regions funds for measures on preventing family violence were allocated in the state and local budgets in the framework of the oblast program of support to the family for the period till 2010 for a total amount of 2446 thousand hryvnas. An important role belongs to activities of international and non-governmental organizations funded by international and private donor organizations. Here are the data of 2008. Thus, according to the decisions of the regional councils for 2008, the funding of regional programs on gender equality consolidation in the Ukrainian society for the period till 2010 has been approved from local budget expenditures in the following scopes (except Zakarpattia region, Kherson region and the city of Sevastopol): • the Crimea– 47,5 thousand UAH • Cherkassy region – 108,0 thousand UAH • Chernivtsi region – 40,0 thousand UAH • Chernihiv region– 12,0 thousand UAH • Dnipropetrovsk region –83,0 thousand UAH 26

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Donetsk region – 190,0 thousand UAH Ivano-Frankivsk region – 97,8 thousand UAH Kyiv region –40,0 thousand UAH Kirovograd region – 54,5 thousand UAH Kharkiv region – 130,7 thousand UAH Khmelnytskiy region – 20,0 thousand UAH Lugansk region – 324,0 thousand UAH Lviv region – 120,0 thousand UAH Mykolaiv region – 12,0 thousand UAH Odessa region – 350,0 thousand UAH Poltava region – 32,5 thousand UAH Rivne region – 25,0 thousand UAH Sumy region – 30,0 thousand UAH Ternopil region – 35,0 thousand UAH Vinnytsia region – 77,5 thousand UAH Volyn region – 300,0 thousand UAH Zhytomyr region – 20,0 thousand UAH Zaporizhzhia region – 51,0 thousand UAH the city of Kyiv: Department on the Issues of Women, Disabled Persons, Veterans of War and Labour –155,0 thousand UAH; Main Department of Family and Youth – 59,0 thousand UAH.

Research on Cost of Family Violence was conducted by International Women’s Rights Center “La Strada-Ukraine” and Kharkiv Institute for Social Studies in cooperation with Ukrainian Ministry of Interior in 2007-2008. Methodology of research is based on indicators of family violence cost estimation suggested by Silvia Walb (Lids University, Great Britain) and Lesly Leyn (University of New Southern Welsh, Australia). One case of family violence included the following indicators: direct loose of estate; health expenses; economic loss causedbylower workability or skip of job; expenses of law enforcement agencies; expenses of courts; expenses of social services; expenses on shelters and crises centers; expenses on victim’s children. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior there were 87 831 people registered in accusation of family violence. Among them – 77 664 men, 9098 women and 1069 children. In 2007 more than 65000 people committed physical violence, 24 382 people – psychological violence, 2 916 people – economical violence. There were 76 865 official notifications and 5 830 protection notices. Physical and psychological violence are the most widespread types of violence, which are estimated to be 95 % of all cases. To make the research women suffered from family violence were interrogated and costs on every indicator were thoroughly studied. The research has shown that average cost of one case of family violence in Ukraine is 7 306.38 UAH. Though the numbers are pretty large, it should be mentioned that this does not include the esteem of moral damage. Though it is difficult for women to measure this damage, average compensation they consider to be good enough to compensate moral damage committed to them and their children is 31 152.53 UAH.

27

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

At the same time, even in this situation, Ukrainian tax payer pays for one case of family violence 1 730 UAH, which covers work of police, social services and other public institutions working with the consequences of violence. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior in 2007 there were 91598 protocols of family violence cases. Hence reacting only to registered cases of family violence cost Ukrainian budget 158 464 540 UAH. Total costs of registered cases of violence against women in 2007 inUkraine is estimated to 669 249 795, 24 UAH, moreover the half of those women had to pay these costs themselves. The half of the costs in the structure of expenses caused by family violence and paid by the victims are connected with the estate loss (42,2 %) and with health damage (19,3 %).

28

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Section VI PROTECTION OF FAMILY MEMBERS’ RIGHTS IN TAKING FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION MEASURES Article 17. Protection of family members’ rights in taking family violence prevention measures

1. The State shall guarantee protection of the rights and legal interests of family members with respect to whom family violence prevention measures are taken. 2. Officials and officers taking family violence prevention measures shall not disclose information about the personal and family life of victims which have been known to the former due to the discharge of their duties.

Part 1 of the article envisages the state guarantee of protection of rights and lawful interests to family members in whose respect preventive measures on family violence are taken. At the same time, the law does not determine which family members are concerned – victims of family violence or perpetrators. That is why it is important to speak about protecting rights and lawful interests of both sides of the conflict; indeed, according to the Article 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Ukraine has an obligation to ensure respect to human rights. The article does not give anything for protection of the victim. It in directly refers to the state guarantees. The victim of family violence can not count on ensuring her/his safety in case of the real threat to her/his life, health, housing or property. Such right belongs only to those persons who participate in the criminal proceedings. To make the article work in practice, it is necessary to criminalize actions related to perpetration of family violence. And those should not necessarily be sanctions related to a lengthy term of limitation of freedom or imprisonment. Main sanctions for perpetration of family violence may envisage penalties that are not related to imprisonment. However, consideration of the case will be conducted in the framework of the criminal process, which will permit, first of all, the victim to take full advantage of legal norms concerning protection of her/his rights and lawful interests.

29

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Section VII FINAL PROVISIONS

This law shall become effective three months after its publication. The Cabinet of the Ministers of Ukraine within one month upon the effectiveness of this law shall: prepare and submit for the consideration of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine motions on bringing the Laws of Ukraine to conformity with this Law; bring regulatory legal acts of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to conformity with this Law; within its scope of competence secure the passing of regulatory legal acts; ensure that central and local executive bodies review and cancel their regulatory legal acts that contradict this Law.

Concluding provisions are a mandatory component that concludes any law. The concluding provisions establish a term of coming into force of the Law, and a procedure and terms of settling discrepancies with other normative legal acts of various levels. In practice, those provisions have long ago turned into a formality, which is being violated both by terms and by the content. As one can see from the analysis of formation of the subordinate regulatory and legal framework in the area of preventing family violence, the Cabinet of Ministers did not fulfilled respective mandate in terms at a stated time. For instance, the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “About the Approval of the Procedure of Consideration of Claims and Notices about the Perpetration of Family Violence or Its Real Threat” No. 616 was adopted on 26.04.2003, in fact after a year and half after the publication of the Law. The first special by-law was adopted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine: on March 28, 2002, an order No. 307 “About Preventing Family Violence” was issued. In the future, with a goal to avoid violations of terms of adopting new legislative and subordinate normative and legal acts pursuant to the Law, it is necessary to fix real terms for their development and adoption. A possibility of submitting complex draft laws that include alterations of various normative and legal acts should be considered.

30

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

General conclusions and recommendations 1. In the part of the formulation of general conclusions and recommendations of the monitoring of the observance of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence”, an observation is important that some of them are being often repeated in the materials of parliamentary hearings, round tables, seminars, monitoring reports. This indicates that they have not been taken into account and were not implemented in the course of activities on combating family violence, and that a need exists to monitor realization of the recommendations suggested.

Legislative and normative legal base 2. The legislation of Ukraine on preventing family violence is quite dynamic and has been improved several times during last ten years. It contains areas on ably broad list of various normative legal acts. However, a growing number and diversity of laws and by-laws often lead to their inconsistency with one another, which further results in the low efficiency of measures aimed at combating this phenomenon, lack of cooperation between various bodies and services, impossibility to receive assistance by victims of family violence, duplication of activities and shifting responsibility from one service to another. That is why normative legal acts concerning combating family violence, social work with children, youth, families, seniors etc. should be carefully and consistently analyzed and reconciled. 3. Term definitions contained in Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” do not fully correspond to the essence of the problem of family violence and to the international standards. Some of them do not agree with other normative legal acts. That is why the terms should be amended and edited according to requirements of the legislative procedures and international standards. 4. It is recommended to design the state programme on combating family violence with the necessary funding, because, as the practice shows, in the absence of funding of specific provisions of normative legal acts, they virtually remain unimplemented. 5. In developing changes and amendments to the Ukrainian legislation in the area of combating family violence, the terminology should be discussed by a multidisciplinary expert group involving professionals from various branches of law, on the international law, gender, editing etc. 6. A problematic issue is a legally fixed possibility to take measures on combating trafficking in human beings only by the personal appeal of the victim. A possibility should be envisaged at the legislative level to take special measures on combating family violence based on the report about family violence or its threat received from individuals, organizations, businesses, educational establishments and other physical or juridical persons under condition that the person who suffered from family violence, expressed in written her/his wish that special measures envisaged by this law to be taken. In case is the victim is a child or a disabled person, reaction to the information about facts of violence should come even without consent of the child. The child should be also guaranteed a possibility to refer with a claim about illegal acts, including family violence, committed against her/him. 7. The law should include explicit provisions about family violence against such vulnerable categories of the population as persons with disabilities, seniors, etc., and legislatively appoint the body (bodies) which would been trusted with realization of measures on combating family violence against this category of persons.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

8. Changes should be made in the decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers about approval of model regulations about existing establishments which can provide assistance to victims of family violence regarding restrictions caused by the place of registration of such persons (in particular in the part regarding persons for which a region of location of the establishment is a place of their permanent residence) and age. 9. An analysis of implementation of the Law showed that collection of funds for keeping victims of family violence in the special establishments is not realized in practice. A clear mechanism of funds collection should be established through introducing amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine, namely, to introduce a respective article which would define the mechanism of collecting funds for maintenance of victims of family violence in special establishments. 10. With a goal to promote and preserve property rights of the victim of family violence and rights and interests of children, it is recommended to introduce changes to normative legal acts regulating rights of the joint property of spouses and property rights of children. 11. It is proposed to criminalize perpetration of family violence, as it is envisaged by the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and family violence, taking into consideration risks that exist due to introduction of separate responsibility for perpetration of family violence. 12. It is recommended to make changes to the Criminal Code of Ukraine in the part of extending the aggravating circumstances of the perpetration of crime – “Perpetration of crime by a person who is a family member, natural or collateral relative, guardian/custodian”, and to allow considering this circumstance as aggravating the punishment. 13. To introduce a provision to the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” which fixes a right of victims of family violence to redress of moral and material damages caused by perpetration of family violence. 14. A provision should be made in the Law of Ukraine “About Amnesty” that persons who committed family violence are not subject to the absolute discharge. 15. In designing a new draft law or amending the current legislation, the international agreements ratified in accordance with the legally established procedure, should be added to the list of components of the legislation in the area of family violence.

Training of professionals 16. The monitoring showed that instructions and internal documents may in practice have priority over the laws, and adopted changes to laws may not be brought to the attention of executing officers for years. Therefore it is necessary to conduct annual trainings of workers of internal affairs, judges, social workers on provisions of laws in the area of family violence. Those issues should be included into a test passed after the annual training course. 17.To ensure training and professional development of all professionals working in the area of combating family violence, in particular, workers of internal affairs, social workers, educators, healthcare workers, judges, etc., onthe issues of the elimination of family violence and of the practical application of laws in this direction through introducing those topics (special courses) in the curriculum. 18. To generalize and disseminate in professional the best practices in the areas of providing assistance to victims of family violence and family violence prevention.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

Mechanisms of cooperation of subjects of combating family violence 19. The legislation should be improved by extending a number of subjects entrusted with realization of measures on combating family violence, by clear delimitation of functions, which will be performed exclusively within expenses envisaged for their maintenance. 20. The law does not draw a clear distinction between powers of the specially authorized executive bodies at the central and local levels, which results in the confusion or formal execution of functions. That is why those powers should be separated. 21. To ensure participation of public organizations in discussions of draft legislative and normative acts on family violence, etc. 22. To secure a possibility and determine a procedure of funding from the local budget of services provided by public organizations to victims of family violence. 23. The monitoring revealed the inconsistency of data between structural units interacting on the family violence prevention in 17 regions. For this reason a concerted uniform system of data collection and analysis on the implementation of the Law should be introduced urgently. 24. To set up a system of referral of family violence victims to special establishments where they will be able to receive necessary assistance.

Special measures 25. In total, making official warnings about in admissibility of perpetration of family violence may be seen as an adequate measure of reaction on the part of the state on perpetration of family violence (under condition of the absence of signs of crime). At the same time, some experts come to the conclusion that an official warning about inadmissibility of perpetration of family violence has exhausted itself as an institute, as its non-performance does not lead to legal consequences for a perpetrator. Based on the international experience in this area, instead of the institute of the official warning about inadmissibility of perpetration of family violence, a notion of the “temporary restricting order” should be introduced. It seems expedient that the temporary restricting order should be rendered by the court only. In addition, taking into consideration a social danger of actions which can be qualified as family violence, it is advisable that rendition of the official warning be accompanied by obliging the perpetrator to take, for instance a program or a lecture course on the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence”. 26. Taking into consideration that the court in Ukraine is the sole law-enforcing body that can make decisions about restricting fundamental rights and freedoms in cases envisaged by the legislation (in particular, the right to use housing and other objects of the property right, the freedom of movement, the right of privacy etc.), a decision about placing perpetrators of family violence into corrective programs and rendering of the restricting order should be entrusted to courts. Such work should be conducted as an alternative punishment by penitentiary bodies. 27. It is expedient to entrust bodies of law enforcement with a function of preparation, by the judicial enquiry, of materials on persons considered by the court for placing into a corrective program or for rendering a restricting order. 28. The removal from the Law of the article about the official warning about inadmissibility of the victim behaviour in respect to family violence should be noted as a positive step. It meets the international standards and prevents shifting responsibility for family violence from the perpetrator to the victim. However, apracticeofrendering such official orders by district

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

militia inspectors persists. Therefore, theMinistry of Internal Affairs should be urged to pay a special attention to this issue, in particular in Cherkassy, Odessa and Zakarpattya Oblasts. 29. A problematic side of introducing a preventive registration of perpetrators of family violence at the legislative level is the fact that the Law does not determine measures that should be taken towards registered perpetrators. The MIA was entrusted with the development of procedures of registration and removal from the registry only. Therefore the preventive registration of the perpetrator cannot be seen as an efficient measure of preventing family violence that protects a victim of family violence. 30. Upon releasing a perpetrator of the family violence from custody according to Article 75 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, subject to medical indications, courts should employ powers of Article 76 of the Criminal Code regarding obliging a convict released from the service of sentence on probation to take a course of medical treatment of alcoholism and drug abuse. Such treatment is not considered compulsory, because a responsibility to take it is entrusted directly to the convicted person and not on the public health authority. 31. In order to protect rights of the child who suffered from sexual violence and to avoid her/his repeated trauma, a number of interrogation of the child and her/his presence in the court room should be minimized. Such cases should be investigated only in camera, as envisaged by Article 20 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine.

Provision of assistance 32. A system of provision of assistance to victims by the existing network of establishments, namely, centers of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence, centers of socio-psychological assistance, centers of socio-psychological rehabilitation of children, child shelters of services for children should be improved. In addition, crisis centers, which are envisaged by the Law and virtually not available in practice, should be established. 33. The Law envisages that crisis centers both provide assistance to victims of family violence and conduct work with perpetrators of family violence. However, the main principle of preventing family violence is a principle of victim’s safety, which not always can be guaranteed when work with both the victim and her/his offender is conducted in the same premises. 34. The state administrations and bodies of local governance are recommended to create establishments for victims of family violence at the level of the town, district or city district, as needed. 35. It is proposed to establish units providing necessary assistance to the incapable and seniors, at the territorial centers for seniors (as the work with this category of persons requires a special approach and special professional training, including, inter alia, peculiarities of the age psychology). 36. Lack of appropriate funding of centres of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence leads to non-performance by the state of commitments it assumed on protecting rights and interests of victims of family violence and their medical and social rehabilitation. Measures should be taken to improve financing of establishments providing assistance to victims. 37. The existing centres of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence are established at the mental hospitals, which is undesirable according to the Model Regulations on the center of medical and social rehabilitation of victims of family violence. That is why it is recommended that such establishments are created not at mental hospitals, but rather as a separate juridical person or a separate structural unit of the medical and prophylactic institution. 34

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

38. Victims of family violence are not being adequately informed information about the availability of centres of medical and social rehabilitation and a possibility to receive medical and psychological assistance. The public, especially victims of family violence, should be broadly informed about availability of centres of medical and social rehabilitation and a possibility to get assistance, through mass media, outdoor advertising, the Internet, information production, etc. 39. The monitoring allowed distinguishing a number of problems with pending law suits on family violence. Those are, in particular, “softness” of punishments, a low number of individual verdicts aimed at drawing attention of social services or bodies of law enforcement to families where family violence was committed, at preventing repeated cases of violence, preventing perpetration of a more serious offense, protecting rights of victims, insufficient attention to the history of family violence which could have existed for years, a formal approach to the trial, a widespread practice of trials by a simplified procedure. Courts should pay attention to such practice and avoid it in trials on family violence. 40. When trying cases related to family violence, a practice of referring to the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” is almost non-existent in the courts, and terms defined in Article 1 of the Law are not used. This also has effect both on the qualification of offences and on the understanding of the nature of the problem in general. In future, the court practice on cases related with family violence should be generalized, and a recommendation made at the level of the Supreme Court about application of the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Violence” during consideration of such cases both in the exercise of criminal and civil justice, and in cases about bringing perpetrators to the administrative responsibility.

General recommendations 41. Realization of the monitoring of the status of implementation of the legislation in the area of preventing family violence has also revealed a need to standardize the spelling of the term gender,which issued differently in the spelling dictionary and in the normative legal acts of Ukraine: ґендер та гендер, bringing it up to modern norms.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

The chronology of events (2001–2011) Preconditionsfor adoptingthe Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence

2001 2002

2003

* UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (ratified by Ukraine by the Order of the Presidium of the VerkhovnaRada of the UkrSSR on 24 December 1980, which is effective on the territory of Ukraine according to the Law of Ukraine about the Legal Succession of Ukraine” of 12 September 1991) * UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) * Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women(22 December 2000, ratified by Ukraine on 5 June 2003) * General recommendation No. 12, 14 and 19 of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Violence against Women regarding violation against women and girls, in particular, domestic violence * Fourth World UN Conference on Women (1995, Beijing) * The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence. * Decree of the MIA of 28.03.2002 No. 307 “About Preventing Family Violence” * Decree of the MIA of 09.04.2002 No. 329 “About the Approval of the Instruction about the order of preventive registration and taking off the registration of the persons who committed family violence” (registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 22 April 2002, No. 380 / 6668) * The Decree lost validity on the grounds of the Decree of the Ministry of Ukraine on Family, Children and Youth and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of 09.03.2004 No. 3/235. * Ukraine presented in UN the fourth and fifth combined report on implementation by the state of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against women * The Law of Ukraine “About Amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Violations regarding Establishing the Responsibility for Committing Family Violence or NonPerformance of the Protective Prescript” * Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 26.04.03 No. 616 “About Approval of the Order of Administration of Claims and Notices about the Perpetration of Family Violence or its Real Threat” * Decree of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of 20.10.2003 No. 1212 “About Approval the Regulations about the Service of District Militia Inspectors in the System of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine” (registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 11 November 2003, No. 1031/8352)

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

2004

2005 2006

2007

2008

* Parliamentary hearings “The Status of Women in Ukraine” * Opening of the National Hot Line of Preventing Violence by the International Women’s Human Rights Centre “La Strada – Ukraine” * Decree of the State Committee of Ukraine on Family, Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ministry of Health of Ukraine of 16.01.2004 No. 5/34/24/11 “About Approval of the Order of Administration of Appeals and Notices regarding Violent Treatment of Children or the Real Threat of Its Committal” (registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine of 22.01.04, No. 99/8698) * Decree of the Ministry of Ukraine of Family, Children and Youth and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of 09.03.04 No. 3/235 “About Approval of the Instruction about the Order of Cooperation of Departments of Family and Youth, Children Services, Centres of Social Services for Youth and Bodies of Internal Affairs in the Area of Realization of Measures on Preventing Domestic Violence” (registered at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 30.03.04,No. 399/8998) * Law of Ukraine “About Providing Equal Rights and Opportunities of Women and Men” * Launch of the Council of Europe Program on Combating Family Violence * Parliamentary hearings “Equal Right and Opportunities of Women and Men” * Parliamentary hearings “The Modern State and Actual Tasks in the Area of Preventing Gender Violence” * The Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “About Approval of the State Program on Strengthening Gender Equality in the Ukrainian Society for the Period till 2010” * The Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “About Approval of the State Program of Support to the Family for the Period till 2010” * Information of the General Procurator’s Office about the state of observance of the legislation aimed at protecting rights of juveniles suffering from criminal assault, family violence, their involving into the criminal and other unlawful activities * Concluding observations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by results of the consideration of the 5th periodic report of Ukraine on the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and CulturalRights * Law of Ukraine “About the Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improvement of the Legislation on Combating Family Violence” * Launch of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s UNITE to End Violence against Women campaign * Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “About Preventing Family Crime” which introduced correctional programs in the work with offenders, a notion of the “victim behaviour” was withdrawn etc.

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The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

* Launch of the National Campaign “Stop Violence!” 2009

* The National Forum “Stop Violence!” * Forum “Men against Violence”. Adoption of the Declaration of Respect * Decree of the Ministry of Ukraine of Family, Youth and Sports of 10.06.2009 No. 1977 “About the approval of the Model Statute of the Crisis Centre for members of families where family violence was committed or exists a real threat of its perpetration” * Decree of the Ministry of Ukraine on Family, Youth and Sports and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine of 07.09.2009 No. 3131/386 “About the Approval of the Instruction about the order of cooperation of departments on family, youth and sports, children services, centres of social services for family, children and youth and respective units of bodies of internal affairs in the area of realization of measures on preventing family violence” (registered in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 30 September 2009, No. 917/16933) * Decree of the MIA of Ukraine of 8 September 2009 No. 388 “About the Approval of the Reporting Form No. 1-HC ‘Report on the State of Combating Domestic Violence’ (quarterly)”

2010

* Opening of the gender museum (Kharkiv) * Under support of the Office of the OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine, an international seminar “Social work with offenders: the international experience and perspectives of introduction in Ukraine” took place on June 11–12, 2009, and a seminar “Combating Family Violence: Social and Psychological Work with Offenders” took place in August, 2009 * A number of programs of corrective work with persons who committed family violence was developed, in particular, by the work group established by the Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports under support of the Office of the OSCE Project Coordinator, the International Women’s Human Rights Centre “La Strada – Ukraine” and the International Humanitarian Centre “Rozrada” * In the framework of the program of training of specialists developed under support of the OSCE, 30 professionals were trained who are able to implement introduction of the correctional measures * Opneng of the national consulting telephone hot line on preventing and combating domestic violence (Kharkiv) (financed from the oblast budget in the framework of the Oblast Complex Program of development of the humanitarian sphere for 2009 –2013; annual funding is 10 thousand Hryvnas) * Ukraine submitted to UN the sixth and seventh combined report on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Concluding recommendations were received. 38

The Monitoring of the Implementation of the Law of Ukraine about Preventing Family Violence (2001–2011)

2011

* Ukraine submitted to the UN Committee of the Rights of the Child the third and fourth combined report about the implementation by the state of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Concluding recommendations were received * Opening for signing of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence * Concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child by results of the consideration of the combined third and fourth periodical report on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child * Implementation of the monitoring of the status of observance of the laws of Ukraine on combating family violence dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Law of Ukraine on Preventing Family Violence * On 7 November 2011, Ukrainesigned the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence

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Coverdesign: V. Kyrylchuk

The cover design uses materials prepared by the Ministry of Ukraine on Family, Youth and Sports, the EU-UNDP of Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights, Kharkiv Oblast State Administration, the Museum of History of Womanhood, History of Women’s and Gender Movement, the Youth Organization “Nova Generatsiya” (The New Generation), the International Women’s Human Rights Centre “La Strada–Ukraine”, the International Humanitarian Centre “Rozrada”, the European Union Project “Rights of Women and Children in Ukraine – the communication component”, and materials prepared in the framework of the National Campaign “Stop Violence”

The text of the Law On Preventing Family Violence has been given by Svitlana Pavlysh, The Programme of Equal Opportunities and Women’s Rights and Olena Suslova, Informative and Consulting Women Centre

Passed for printing 14.11.2011. Format 84x108/16. Poster paper. Typeface Helios. Conventional press sheets – 4.2. Physical press sheets – 2.5. Circulation 200 copies. Order No. 2/12.

Printed in the "Ukrayina" Agency LLC printing house 01034, city of Kyiv, Honchara St., 55 office 60 (Registration Certificate series ДК No. 265 of 30.11.2000)